Gavinski, Covey to travel to Florida

Four-day trip to help bring information about Walkable Communities

MOSES LAKE — With the intention of learning first-hand how to help turn the city into a more walkable community, Mayor Ron Covey, City Manager Joe Gavinski and Community Development Director Gilbert Alvarado will travel to Florida next week.

"We have heard a lot and seen a lot of pictures of (walkable communities)," Gavinski said. "We have tried to imagine how it would fit into Moses Lake. Now we want to bring back some of what we see and see if we can bring it to Moses Lake."

Florida is the home state of Dan Burden, the urban development expert who has spent the last few years helping towns and cities become more walkable. Burden visited Moses Lake last year and invited Covey and Gavinski to participate in this month's two-day Smart Growth tour of Florida cities and villages.

These cities will include Orlando, Winter Park, Kissimmee, Celebration, Fort Pierce, Abacoa, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale.

This tour is important, Gavinski said, because although there is much to be learned through pictures and narrative, it's not the same as talking to people who have been living in and working in a walkable community.

In September, 2004, Dan Burden brought his view of a walkable community to Moses Lake. During a two-day conference, he explained the benefits of building a community that emphasizes walking over driving.

Now, Gavinski, Covey and Alvarado want to take the next step. The findings from their trip will likely influence the work of the Healthy Communities Project and Vision 2020, Gavinski said, as well as hopefully bring Burden back to Moses Lake sometime.

The goal of creating a walkable, livable downtown has been a city project longer than a Vision 2020 project, Gavinski said.

"Making it a walkable community is kind of providing a bit of a different bent," he added.

The bent, Gavinski explained, is that making downtown Moses Lake walkable may not have been at the forefront as a specific goal of Vision 2020, the group in charge of downtown revitalization.

The delegation from Moses Lake will leave for Florida on Jan. 25, tour the state for an entire day on Jan. 26 and some more on Jan. 27, returning to Moses Lake the next day. The cost of the city-financed trip is between $1,600 and $2,000.